


The Boy That Was

by Svartalfhild



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-16
Updated: 2016-10-16
Packaged: 2018-08-22 19:23:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8297375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Svartalfhild/pseuds/Svartalfhild
Summary: Keyleth wants to understand her best friend better and the Sun Tree shows her something that allows her to.





	

As much as Keyleth loved Percy and cherished his friendship, he was not the easiest person for her to understand.  It was sometimes hard for her to reconcile the man who pulled her into loving hugs and selflessly devoted his life to his people with the man who seemed a million miles away as he made deals with creatures of evil and built tools of awful destruction knowing the toll it would take.  Sometimes she wondered if she really knew Percival at all.

After a nasty argument with him over what should be done about Raishan, Keyleth found herself once again sitting beneath the Sun Tree, seeking its counsel.

“Hey, Sun Tree?”

“Heeeey, Keyleth.  What’s up?”

“I’m frustrated.  Percy is my best friend but sometimes he can be so cold and calculating that it feels like I’m not talking to the same person anymore.  You’ve been around all his life, right?  Was he always like this?”

“Nah.  I remember the de Rolos before I got sick.”

“You do?”

“Yeeeaah.  I’m the vessel of Whitestone’s memories.  If you want, I can show you something that might help.”

“Okay,” Keyleth replied, a little confused but also excited.  She felt a sudden jolt, like she was being pulled forward.  There was a flash of white light and then she found herself standing in the street above beside the tree, only there was snow covering everything that hadn’t been there a minute ago.  In fact, the whole place seemed to have a very different energy to it.  There were many more people out and about than before and they didn’t seem haggard or unhappy.

Looking around, Keyleth saw a group of dark-haired, blue-eyed children playing around the tree.  A girl who looked to be in her mid-teens was laughing as two younger boys exchanged snowballs with her.  Another boy, who looked even older, was showing a very small girl how to make snow angels.  A third and even smaller girl, who looked even more oddly familiar than the others, was looking up at the branches of the tree with an expression of longing.

“Do you want to touch the branches?” Keyleth asked, but the girl didn’t seem to hear her.  From the other side of the tree, a seventh child, this one wearing an unmistakable pair of gold framed spectacles, appeared and observed the little one’s pout.  Suddenly she understood what was going on.  “Percy!” she gasped.

This Percival couldn’t be more than fourteen and his hair was an inky black, not unlike that of Vax and Vex, but it was definitely him.  She could see in the boy’s features the beginnings of the dashing young man she knew.  What really threw her was the softness in his eyes, the lack of tiredness and distance in them.

Percival stepped right through Keyleth to the little girl, whom the druid now realized must be Cassandra, and picked her up, allowing her to perch on his shoulders and touch the lowest branch of the Sun Tree.

“There you are,” he said with a smile.  Cassandra was so enthusiastic about finally touching the tree branch that she accidentally knocked Percival’s glasses off into the snow in the process.

“Cass!  Percy needs those,” the eldest girl scolded, quickly grabbing the glasses before they could be stepped on and cleaning them off.

“It’s alright, Vesper.  She didn’t mean to,” Percy responded sweetly as his older sister carefully placed his spectacles back on his face for him.  Keyleth felt her heart swell.  What a kind boy.  How proud she was to have become his close friend.

He set Cassandra down and gave her a pat on the head before she ran off to join in the snow angel making.  The two boys who had been throwing snowballs trotted up behind Percy then, both trying not to catch the attention of either Percy or Vesper.  Keyleth, realizing what they were about to do, instinctively reached out to grab them, but she passed right through and they continued on to shove snow down the back of his coat.  He cried out in shock and whipped around as the pair scrambled away, tearing off across the square.

Quick as lightning, Percy gathered a snowball into his hands and pelted it at one of his brothers’ backs.  With a loud _fwup_ , it hit the taller one square in the neck, causing the boy to writhe at the shocking cold sting.

“Ha!  Take that, Oliver, you little sneak!” Percy cackled and Keyleth saw a glimpse of the man she knew, the one who giggled with her about the antics of their friends, the one who was amazing to watch in battle.

A second snowball flew through the air, hitting the youngest brother, and Percy looked over to see Vesper dusting snow from her hands.  She gave him a conspiratorial grin, which he matched until suddenly they were being pelted with further snowballs in return.

Keyleth watched as Percy smiled and laughed with his siblings, throwing snow at each other, Oliver and Ludwig even tackling him at one point.  She didn’t think she had ever seen him this happy and carefree before.

“Alright, that’s enough, boys,” Vesper said as she pulled the younger ones off Percy, though she was still giggling.  Ludwig goodnaturedly offered Percy a hand to help him up, which he took, springing to his feet and brushing snow from his coat.  He ruffled Ludwig’s hair and the younger boy beamed.

There was a flash of light and the snow vanished.  There were now golden flower buds on the Sun Tree and the playing children were replaced by a much older Percival, who was leaning against the tree and doodling away in a sketchbook.  This Percy was much closer to the one Keyleth knew.  He was as tall as she remembered and his face a more youthful version of the one that could now seduce grass.  His expression was serious and pensive, but there were no dark circles around his eyes or lines of worry etched into his features.

“Ah, what is the genius up to today?” a young man with an impressive mustache, who must have been Percy’s older brother, asked, appearing at his side and leaning against the tree with him.

“I’m designing something for Vesper’s birthday, but you mustn’t tell her,” Percy replied without even looking up from his book.

“I was more asking what you were doing by the Sun Tree, but alright,” Julius laughed.

“Professor Anders cancelled my lessons for the day, so mother asked me to go with Whitney and Ludwig on their trip to the woods, but they are currently distracted with raiding the flower shop over there.  Don’t be surprised if you wake up with a flower crown tomorrow,” Percy explained, still sketching away.  There was a moment of silence in which Julius seemed to be watching Percy thoughtfully and then he spoke.

“You know, Percival, despite what father says, I think you’d be a great knight.  I know you’re too modest to admit it, but you’re as patient and kind as you are smart and you follow your duty without complaint.  That’s not nothing.”

Percy stopped sketching and paused for a moment before closing his sketchbook and finally looking at his brother.

“Thank you, Julius,” he responded, a genuine smile playing at the corners of his lips.

“You’re welcome, Percival,” Julius said fondly.  He then slapped a hand down on his younger brother’s shoulder and continued, “Now, round up those little druid wannabes and come back to the castle.  Apparently we’re going to have guests tonight and mother wants us ready for dinner as soon as possible.”

“Who’re we hosting this time?” Percy asked with a disdainful sigh.

“Lord and Lady Briarwood of Wildmount or some such.”  Percy groaned and Keyleth gasped.  Whitney and Ludwig came out of the shop, giggling and holding huge bunches of assorted flowers in their hands.  Percy beckoned for them to follow him and Julius.

“No, Percy, don’t!” Keyleth screamed as he walked away, reaching out to him, but she felt herself being pulled backwards.  There was another flash of light and suddenly she was sitting under the Sun Tree again.

For a good minute, she just sat there, processing everything she had just seen.  She didn’t know what to think or understand why the Sun Tree had shown her these memories until the tree spoke again.

“Percival loved his family a lot and they loved him too, but he lost them.  You guys are his family now.”

“Are you saying that he’s so scared of losing everything again that he’s willing to do almost anything to protect us, even be a cold bastard?”

“Pretty much.  But don’t worry too much, Kiki.  You recognized the boy I showed you, didn’t you?”  It took Keyleth a moment to realize what the Sun Tree meant and when it dawned on her, she smiled.  “That boy is still around.  He’s just scared.”

“Thanks, Sun Tree.  You’re the best,” she told it fondly.

“No problem, Kiki.  You’re pretty cool too.”

As she walked away from the Sun Tree, she realized that she wasn’t mad at Percy anymore.  In fact, she just wanted to give him a hug and tell him that she understood why he was being so careful about Raishan.  She wanted him to be reminded that he was her best friend and she wasn’t going to go anywhere.

When she found him in the second floor corridor of the castle, she ran to him and pulled him into a tight embrace.  He seemed surprised at first, but then he put his arms around her and held her just as tightly.

“I’m sorry I snapped at you,” she murmured to him, her voice cracking as she spoke.

“It’s alright.  I understand what it feels like to be so full of hatred and anger that you can’t see anything else.  You’re honestly doing much better than I did.”

The memory of young Percy forgiving Cassandra for knocking his glasses off flashed in her mind and tears began to spill profusely down her cheeks.

“And I understand what it’s like to be afraid to lose everything.”  Her voice wobbled terribly as she said this, but she managed to get it out before a sob wracked through her.  

“I know,” he said, rubbing her back and placing a kiss on the top of her head.


End file.
